Monday, October 30, 2006

We had a good Halloween party here Saturday night, but I drank too much red wine and beer and struggled with my long run on Sunday.

I left it until I felt a little better in the afternoon and right on sunset set off for two and a half hours. The first 40mins were fine, the next 20mins hellish, and the last hour and a half I ran robotically while my thoughts raced from subjects as varied as "Why don't you ever see baby pigeons?" to "Clairie hasn't blogged since she wrote of hurting her back, I wonder if she's alright?"

Anyway I was none the wiser after the run a little sore but happy I could get it in. If anyone knows the answers to the questions above or would like to share some things that go through their minds on long runs I'd be happy to know.

Thursday, October 26, 2006

This subject was raised recently on Ewen's blog and since then I found a good article on an interesting blog "uncommonbody" Take a look you may know the information here but it's always good to brush up.

Wednesday, October 25, 2006

It's getting as cold as a witch's tit over here thesedays, but it is fitting as we are now preparing for a Halloween party for the kids on Saturday and one for the "grown-ups" in the evening. It should be a hoot, so to speak. I encourage you all to go ahead and make some puns in way of your comments but I don't expect "boo" out of anyone.

Sunday, October 22, 2006

Photo shows me 500m from finishing, looking for a sub 40min, see hand,close but not this time, but I did managed 40mins 10sec to get my 10K time down 21 seconds from my best time previously. Although I'm a little miffed I didn't go sub 40min I am rather happy with this as I've been fighting off a head cold for the last few days and I was feeling under the weather going into this.

I didn't mention that in my previous blog as I didn't want to come across as giving excuses just in case I didn't run well. Anyway still feeling a little fluey, but happy as I'm chipping away at my times and I was also able to spend the day with my family. Excellent seafood BBQ.

Friday, October 20, 2006

I'll be running a 10K race this Sunday the 22nd. It starts at a marina, while it's not as beautiful as the Gold Coast it is nice and there is a theme park for the kids and a BBQ restaurant right on the water where you can buy and cook your own seafood. I'll be doing that after the race with my family and the in-laws.

Anyway, this is the first race for me since July when I did the Gold Coast marathon. I had some time off, 3 weeks, without running and since I've been training in the heat of summer to race a fast one. A PB for me will be under 40mins 30 sec. I'll go for it but anywhere around there I'll take.

This is the second time I've raced here last year I did the half marathon in a pretty ordinary time. About half way through that race I passed the crushed shell of an old tortoise that had been squished by a car and I started dwelling on that image thinking that it was analogous to my race and I ran a bad one. It might sound strange but it doesn't take much to affect me mentally, got to work on that! *:)

Thursday, October 19, 2006

I want to talk about "persistence" as, I believe, it is the one quality that best enables us to succeed in life and running. I'm a bit of a "self/help improvement" nut, I have heaps of these kinds of books that I read and re-read. My favorite and the bible of the self help genre is a book titled "Think and Grow Rich" by Napoleon Hill.

In this book it gives 4 simple steps which will lead to the habit of "persistence" and therefore success. The first of these is this:

"A define purpose backed by burning desire for its fulfillment."

It seems to me that distance runners understand this. Their "define purpose" being their next race, their "burning desire" comes from the their drive to get a PB. Basically we don't give up so easily and this persistence fuels improvements in all apects of our lives.

Monday, October 16, 2006

I had a nice weekend in Tokyo and was able to meet up with my English friend Malcolm for five laps around the Imperial Palace on Sunday morning. It is 5kms around and we did 5 loops.Malcolm is looking fit, his last race was a run up Mt Fuji and he told me that it's so steep in sections that he had to use his hands to help him climb.

He also tells me that when they measured out the course for the Tokyo Marathon they used, wait for it, a meter rule. They were so keen to get it right. The Japanese are nothing if not perfectionists or anal retentive you could say.

Malcolm even told me, and I think he might be having a lend of me, that when they were going through the Ginza, a shopping district, that there was a band playing on the road and instead of asking them to move they just went right on through measuring between the bass player and the drummer. Got to love this country.

Friday, October 13, 2006

"Congratulations! You have been selected to run the 2007 Tokyo marathon." So said the email I received yesterday. Thanks for your wishes. To just say I'm happy is to understate it. I'm as happy as a bastard on Father's day!

Thursday, October 12, 2006

No, still haven't found out whether or not I've been accepted to enter the Tokyo Marathon, but I'm going for business there this weekend. I'm going to do my long run of 2 hours around the imperial palace on Sunday morning.

It is a loop run of about 3K and it's really a good scene if your a runner. A lot of individuals and running clubs gather there and its a good chance to socialize. This will be my 2nd time to run there, last time I met and old guy who, no kidding, has run more than 300 marathons.

Wednesday, October 11, 2006

Busy day today so I couldn't get my run in until after work. I did an hour starting from 9:00pm and came home took a bath, ate and just writing this before going to bed. Legs a bit tired now and the left achilles has been a little sore for the last week. I don't think I need to run less just working less would suit me.

I had a strange experience while eating breakfast this morning. After doing a speed session this morning that I was just able to complete I came home took a shower and sat down to a big bowl of cornflakes. Somehow this tasted better than I've ever remebered I just woofed it down like a man obsessed. It was only after I finished that I realised that I've had that experience before, but before it wasn't fueled by a fast run but something else, I did as a misguided youth, yes I had the munchies. Is this possible? Or was I having a hunger induced flashback?

Monday, October 09, 2006

As it is a slow running day I thought I'd introduce a theme for Monday's blog "25 Tips for improving your running." Today's tip, # 25 is: How to improve your stride length. You need 1 Bengal Tiger and a 1000 to 3000 meter stretch of ankle deep water.

Sunday, October 08, 2006

Did my long run this morning I lost a bit of energy around the 1 hour 20 mark but I came good at the end. Still a little sore now, I'll get a massage on Tuesday. Tomorrow is a public holiday, day off, tonight it's the family mans salvation of red wine cheese and DVDs.

Friday, October 06, 2006

The news came yesterday, for some, that they had gainned a place to run in the Tokyo Marathon. I heard that there were 90,000 applicants and 30,000 will be chosen to run, they do this by lottery.

I applied but haven't heard yet, they are sending emails to everyone whether they got a place or not, so I'm a little worried that I can't go. This will be the first such mass participation marathon held in Tokyo and they want it to soon rival the likes of NY, London, and Berlin marathons.

Thursday, October 05, 2006

Back to running 5 days instead of 4 as I've been doing for the past couple of months and decided to take the advice of another blogger and try an early run before work. So I was up at 4:30 and just did a slow jog for 40 mins.

Last year I was doing just about all my running early, but recently doing them either during the day or later at night. My preference is for the early runs for no other reason than I'm sure to get the run in if I do it in the morning, but sometimes the late run will get bumped due to other commitments.

Wednesday, October 04, 2006

Did a 50 min jog today. I felt really stiff and tired for no apparent reason for the first half but at around 30min into it I was really cruising. The pain I had in my ankle disappeared and I got my wind back and ran the last half about 8 mins faster than the first with less effort.

I really don't know why some runs are easy and smooth and others are not so. I guess I'll know more with experience and simply keeping a record on this blog may offer up some answers.

Tuesday, October 03, 2006

Just want to touch on another factor that attracts me to running. It is the honesty of the sport. Pat Carroll often talks/writes about it and we all know that there is no faking a new PB.

I got thinking about this recently watching the news and dealing with people at work. The news can be spun and it depends how you look at the efforts people put in at work everyone has their own interpretation on value. Running is the polar opposite.

It's simple and clean, you either run faster or harder than the last time or you didn't. Running into a strong head wind, like I heard Clairie did recently, does not serve as an excuse for slower times, in fact, most runners, Clairie included, are just as happy or happier with a slower hard run than a faster easier one.

I'm sometimes stressed in my everyday life trying to sort out what is "the truth" and what is bullshit but running relieves me from that. I know what "the truth" is. The elation you feel after a good race comes because, I reckon, you have the certain knowledge that you did your best. It's beyond the judgment of others.

Monday, October 02, 2006

Back to work full time from today. It is the end of my summer holidays and now I'm going to have to fit my running around my work and not the other way around like I have been doing. On Monday and Thursdays I have to leave my house at 6:30am so it's pretty hard to fit in any longish runs in the mornings on these days.

I wonder how full time workers fit in their running and balance their other commitments? I rarely if ever miss a session but sometimes that means running later in the evening after all the things I must do. Tonight I have no running planned but I have to do my strength program and I can't start that until 9:00pm which sees me pretty tired going into it. The only alternative is to not do it but feel more satisfied if I can do it.

In a perverse sort of way I like the fact that it is not always easy to fit in my running. I think you understand.

Sunday, October 01, 2006

Did my long run in the rain today. 24 kms all up around a pond I go to all the time (Sayama). This course is a loop just under 3K around and I did 8 laps at around 16 to 17 mins a lap. Pretty slow, but I usually run my long runs slowly. I picked it up the last lap doing that in 15mins.

NEXT RACES

Followers

QUOTES

"No one would have crossed the ocean if he could have gotten off the ship in the storm"

Charles Kettering

"Do not be too moral, you may cheat yourself out of much life. Aim above morality. Be not simply good, be good for something."

Henry David Thoreau

“We act as though comfort and luxury were the chief requirements of life, when all we need to make us happy is something to be enthusiastic about.”

Charles Kingsley

"Happiness is different from pleasure. Happiness has something to do with struggling and enduring and accomplishing."

George Sheehan

"Be who you are and say what you feel because those who mind don't matter and those that matter don't mind."

Dr. Seuss

"In case you haven't been keeping track of current events, we just got our asses kicked."

Soldier, from the movie Aliens.

"Suffering is the sole origin of consciousness."

Dostoyefsky

"Running is the most universal sport on the planet. Every able bodied human being has competed in a running race. There has, and always will be, running. Running is even more universal than sex, more universal than any other accomplishment, more universal than any language, art or music genre. The best runners in the world are the ultimate human beings. "

Sean Williams

“Believe in yourself, know yourself, deny yourself, and be humble.”

John Treacy

"What do we live for if not to make life less difficult for each other?"

Roger Bannister

"You manage what you measure"

old management adage

"A quality shoe cushions the foot. It helps absorb against the impact of an unforgiving terrain. It also provides support against ankle roll, ruptured Achilles. And in some instances……….. Death!"

"Coach" Rick Hoffman

"That man is the richest whose pleasures are the cheapest"

Henry David Thoreau

"There are no limits, there are only plateaus, and you must go beyond them"
Bruce Lee

Magazine Covers

From top to bottom:

Emi and I, my youngest son, (now grown up a bit), my Japanese niece, myself (still not grown up at all), the family, my eldest son (now grown up a bit).

SELF HELP

"Without knowing it, you may be ascribing to other people the feelings you are experiencing yourself. Because you hate yourself, you think other people hate you. This is known as projection. sometimes of course other people really do hate you. This is known as hatred. There is not much you can do about it. You're probably just the sort of person that people hate."

Road Rage

"To avoid succumbing to road rage, close your eyes and imaging you are lying in a beautiful meadow on a summer's day. Touch the blades of grass. Smell the wild flowers. See the butterflies flitting past.

Hear the sound of tearing metal as you drive into the car in front of you."

Victim

"You are a victim because you believe you don't deserve any better. It doesn't always have to be this way. Let somebody else be a victim for a change. Next time you're walking down a busy street, push somebody else under a bus and shout, 'look a victim, and it's somebody else!'

Deal with any residual guilt feelings by using Reiki healing techniques."

The inner core

"Lie down in a grassy park and relax completely. Close your eyes. Access your deep inner core by listening to your breathing. After a few minutes, you will find yourself suffused by a feeling of warmth.